In most classical Latin, the ablative singular mente was used with a feminine adjective to form a phrasal adverb that expressed a person's state of mind, such as vēlōcī mente (“quick-mindedly, with a quick mind”):

1st century BCE, Catullus, poem 8, line 11:

sed obstinata mente perfer, obdura

but with a resolved mind, endure, hold out.

29-19 BCE, Virgil, Aenid, book 4, line 105:

sensit enim simulata mente locutam

for she realized that (she) had spoken with false purpose.

In Late Latin, this construction began to be extended to other adjectives and uses as well, and in Vulgar Latin and the later Romance languages, it became a general adverbial suffix.